Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOP – 2023

A translucent ruby in color, the 2023 Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is lifted and finessed with a gorgeous bouquet of rose petals, cedar shavings, wild blueberries and crushed stones. This washes across the palate with ease, juicy and vividly fresh, as ripe wild berry fruits cascade across a core of tactile minerals. Hints of savory spice emerge toward the close. It leaves a pleasantly bitter tinge to linger on, tapering off with hints of sour cranberry and violet inner florals. I love the crunchy nature and filigree feel of the 2023. 2024 – 2028

Light red-pink. Raspberry, cherry skin and spicecake on the nose, with a subtle floral quality adding complexity. Juicy and fresh, this nicely concentrated Rosato boasts mineral-accented red berry flavours and slow-building spiciness. Closes long and tangy, with greater stuffing and a bigger fruit-forward profile than some recent vintages. This is powerful enough to handle richer foods such as white meats and pasta and pizzas with tomato sauces. 2026 – 2031

Family-owned estate, Tiberio specializes in wines made from authentic Abruzzo native grape varieties. At 350 meters above sea level, twenty-three miles inland from the sea near the lovely medieval hillside town of Cugnoli, Riccardo Tiberio found a very old plot of Trebbiano Abruzzese vines, which, despite the variety’s name, is a rarity in Abruzzo. A high-quality variety has nothing in common with other Trebbianos, the 60 years old vines must have been a great sight for Riccardo, who then and there decided to change his and his family’s destiny by quitting his job as an export manager starting his own winery in 2000. Today the winery is run by son Antonio (viticulture) and daughter Cristiana (winemaking) and it makes some of Italy’s best white, pink and red wines.

The 2023 Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo from Cristiana and Antonio Tiberio is made entirely from Montepulciano grapes, with only free-run juice fermented with indigenous yeasts and not going through malolactic fermentation. The wine is a delicate, pale ruby color and offers up a vibrant nose of sweet cranberries, quince, bonfire, chalky minerality, cedar and a topnote of roses. On the palate the wine is bright, medium-bodied and still has a whisper of CO2 on the backend, with lovely intensity of flavor, tangy acids, fine focus and grip and a very long, impressively complex and dancing finish. This is really a lovely, high-toned red wine (or rosé, as the estate prefers to list it on the back label) of excellent intensity, complexity and personality. 2024 – 2030

“7 Rosés Our Editors Love Right Now”

The rich yet easy-drinking Montepulciano d’Abruzzo has become a hit with consumers, but its lighter rosato counterpart, Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, is one that we quickly reach for—especially this one, from Tiberio, a winery that has become an industry favorite in recent years. True to its name, it’s a dark, cherry-hued rosé, the Montepulciano grape skins aren’t macerated with the juice for any length of time.

Despite the still-prevailing myth that paler rosés are drier (and deeper ones are, therefore, sweeter), the Tiberio Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is dry and incredibly flavorful. Brimming with vibrant acidity, juicy, tangy cherry notes meet stony, salty savory tones on the finish.

– SevenFifty Daily 5/15/2025  https://daily.sevenfifty.com/7-roses-our-editors-love-right-now/